Alexander Jelic stabs neighbour on Stortford Avenue, Ivanhoe
A dispute between two Ivanhoe neighbours started with beer bottles being thrown at each other’s houses. But it quickly got out of hand and after a wrestling on the ground, one of the men made a shocking discovery.
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An ongoing feud between two Ivanhoe households escalated when a man stabbed his neighbour in the middle of the night, a court has heard.
And the assault happened just after police had been out to manage the dispute between the Stortford Ave neighbours.
The attacker, Alexander Jelic, fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Friday, August 20, also facing charges for graffitiing the City Loop Metro tunnel, throwing urine on prison staff and stealing alcohol.
The court heard police were called to a dispute on Stortford Ave on the evening of January 29, 2019 with members of both households having thrown glass items at each other’s houses.
Senior Constable Lauren Wilson said the neighbours had then had a verbal argument outside, during which Jelic had pulled out a knife.
The court heard police couldn’t find Jelic, and a short time after they left one neighbour heard glass smash on his roof.
He then threw two beer bottles at Jelic’s family’s house, waking Jelic and his mother, who went outside.
Jelic and the man got into a physical fight, falling to the ground, with the man holding his knee on Jelic’s chest but not actually hitting him, before Jelic’s mother broke up the fight.
The court heard when the man got home he felt wet and realised he had been stabbed multiple times in his back and abdomen.
He called the police and Jelic was arrested.
Senior Constable Wilson said the man told police he hadn’t seen the weapon and didn’t know when he had been stabbed.
He had surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for the wounds.
Jelic was on bail when he was caught 1km into the underground City Loop Metro train tunnel near Jolimont railway station on July 9, 2019.
He and another man were found carrying spray cans and had just tagged the tunnel, incurring a $2000 clean up job.
The court heard Jelic had also stolen $87 worth of alcohol from BWS Ivanhoe on January 8, 2020, and had breached his bail repeatedly in 2020 and 2019.
He was most recently charged with assaulting corrections officers while in custody at Port Phillip Prison in separate incidents on April 5 and 8.
In both incidents he threw the cups of urine at officers tending to him, hitting them in the face with the urine.
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to all charges, including some which cannot be published.
Lawyer Oliver Smith said the assaults on the officers occurred in the context of increasing anxiety in the prison surrounding COVID-19 restrictions.
Mr Smith noted the stabbing occurred in the context of both parties being in the wrong, and that the victim had only incurred minor lacerations.
He said Jelic was pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, noting Jelic’s time in custody had been particularly onerous because of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Magistrate Michael McNamara sentenced Jelic to a total of to 12 months’ jail, with 203 days having already been served, saying but for the plea the sentence would have been about 18 months.
Jelic was also fined $1000, and ordered to pay $2000 restitution to Metro.
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